Piedmont Lithium (“Piedmont” or “Company”), a leading global developer of lithium resources critical to the U.S. electric vehicle supply chain, today announced that North American Lithium (“NAL”), an open pit mining and spodumene concentrate operation owned 75% by Sayona Mining (“Sayona”) and 25% by Piedmont, was issued the last remaining permit required to restart operations at the Quebec site. Receipt of the key permit from Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans paves the way for an expected restart of spodumene concentrate production in H1 2023.
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Piedmont Patrick Brindle applauded the NAL management team for reaching this important milestone. “The diligent work of NAL management over the past year has resulted in the successful issuance of all the permits required to operate the Quebec mine and concentrator. With this final permit in place, we will continue to work with our partners at Sayona toward restart of commercial operations at NAL in 2023. Construction on site is advancing as are conversations with potential customers, and we look forward to delivering further news on operational readiness and spodumene concentrate sales in due course.”
Commercial shipments of spodumene concentrate from NAL could begin as early as Q3 2023, providing Piedmont with revenue generation from the operation. The Company holds an offtake agreement for the greater of 113,000 tons per year or 50% of spodumene concentrate production from NAL at a ceiling price of US$900 per metric ton on a life-of-mine basis.